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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25017622">One Big Happy Family — *Aang*</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/HufflepuffChildOfApollo/pseuds/HufflepuffChildOfApollo'>HufflepuffChildOfApollo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>One Big Happy Family [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Corny, Enemies to Friends, Firebenders are Really Warm, Firebending &amp; Firebenders, Gen, Happy, I'm a sucker for cliches (sometimes), Just very corny and cheesy, Minor Aang/Katara, Minor Mai/Zuko, No Angst in this one, Western Air Temple, Yes i dropped the title in the last line, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, hopefully in a good way, it just ended up really clunky and dumb so i got rid of it, not for lack of trying</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 06:34:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,025</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25017622</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/HufflepuffChildOfApollo/pseuds/HufflepuffChildOfApollo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Aang asked Zuko a long time ago if he thought they could be friends.<br/>He never really gets a straight answer, but he's pretty sure he knows.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aang &amp; Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang &amp; Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>One Big Happy Family [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799011</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1108</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>One Big Happy Family — *Aang*</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Aang <em>really </em>wants to believe Zuko when he says he's good now. It's how he was raised, to look for the good in people. </p><p>But when that supposed "good" has been buried for years under the bad, it's a lot harder to take it at face value. Much as it goes against everything he's been taught —</p><p>Aang sides with Katara and Sokka. Zuko leaves on the tail end of Katara's water whip. </p><p><em>Appa </em>seems to like him — that's something. But like Sokka says, he most likely covered himself in honey or something. </p><p>Toph shows up the next morning — burned. </p><p> "I kind of went to see Zuko last night," she admits, when questioned. </p><p>Aang hates to go looking for a fight, but even he has to admit it's not safe to have Zuko walking around free, hurting his friends. Even if it <em>was </em>an accident like Toph says — an <em>accident </em>like that shows carelessness and impulsivity and lack of control. </p><p>They'll have to capture him. </p><p>[¥]</p><p>Before they can actually get to the capturing bit of the plan, someone crashes their party. </p><p><em>Someone </em>being Combustion Man and his exploding head. </p><p>To all their surprise, Zuko actually tries to stop the explosion bender, before being knocked off the ledge. </p><p><em>So much for that help, </em>Aang thinks for a second. Then he reprimands himself, because <em>at least he tried. </em></p><p>Sokka's boomerang saves the day — <em>actually, </em>this time — and Combustion Man...combusts. The side of the cliff. </p><p><em>Yikes, </em>Aang thinks. But he's glad they're safe. </p><p>Zuko miraculously survives his fall off the cliff, and Aang has to admit that unless Zuko's a really good actor and Combustion Man was paid a <em>lot </em>to fake his death, Zuko's probably telling the truth about his change of heart. He even manages an apology to Toph for burning her feet.</p><p>Aang still asks the others' opinions on allowing Zuko to join their group. Toph, almost immediately, agrees, and Aang can <em>hear</em> the gears turning in her head as her aggressive instinct to bond with (read: tame) large and dangerous things flips on. </p><p>
  <em>We're all going to die. </em>
</p><p>[¥]</p><p>Zuko's a good teacher. While he still has Aang do meditation and breathing exercises, he understands Aang's desire to move onto more complicated forms, and allows him a little practice with these — in seclusion, without anyone around (Aang's own condition). </p><p>When Zuko's done training Aang, he goes off, either to his room or down the cliff face to sit by the stream that runs through the valley. Sokka sometimes goes down there to fish, and usually Zuko comes back up pretty fast (until Sokka invites him to help one day because they'll catch more with two people). </p><p>Aang's firebending is coming along (he can now summon a slightly larger puff of smoke than the day before) and training is going really well — until Zuko goes to demonstrate a form and only a weak sputter of flame appears from his hand. </p><p>This is, admittedly, a problem, since Aang can hardly learn on instruction alone. </p><p>Of course, the bright side is that Zuko's inability to firebend stems from the fact he can no longer summon the rage necessary to fuel his fire. So at least he's not ticked-off-trying-to-kill-everyone anymore. </p><p>But they're still gonna be in some deep crap if Zuko doesn't get his fire back. </p><p>Zuko mentions an ancient civilization of Sun Warriors, the first people to learn firebending from the dragons. He suggests they might learn something useful from exploring the ruins of their civilization — which Aang thinks is an <em>excellent </em>idea. </p><p>The ride there on Appa is soured a little by Zuko's pessimistic attitude, but Aang tries not to pay too much attention. <em>He'll warm up eventually. </em></p><p>The Sun Warrior ruins are pretty cool — until Aang finds out the hard way that they're booby-trapped to all heck. But patience is its own reward, and they finally reach the building in the center of the ruins. </p><p>The gates are locked, and can apparently only be opened on the solstice, which is kind of really inconvenient timing. But Zuko's got his trusty shiny sword, and is able to reflect the sun onto the magic gem at the right angle so the gates open. </p><p>The statues encircling the chamber are puzzling at first, and a little startling. The inscription on the chamber tells him it's something called "the Dancing Dragon".  </p><p>Aang copies the pose of the first statue; to his surprise, the place where his foot rests sinks into the floor. Aang kneels down, examining the button; then, looking around at the other statues, he understands. </p><p>[¥]</p><p>They return from the Sun Warriors' island with the secret to firebending and a lot of glue still stuck in their ears. After they demonstrate their new technique to the others (and get the residual glue cleaned off), they take a nice long rest. Then for the next week, every  morning they get right to practicing, and continue up until Katara approaches and tells them there's food inside and they'd better go in and get it before Sokka and Toph eat it all (yes, she says the same thing every day). </p><p>Dinner, today, is a soup which is mostly water, flavored with salt and some bread Sokka found with the supplies. The others have fish with theirs. </p><p>"We're gonna have to figure out which plants around here are edible," Katara says. "I only recognize a couple of the ones that grow around here, and we don't have a whole lot of food left."</p><p> "I know of a patch where wild tomato-carrots grew," Zuko suggests. Everyone stares at him. </p><p>"It was three years ago, so I don't know if they'd still be there. But it's worth a look, right?" </p><p>"You've...been here before?" Katara asks incredulously. </p><p>"Yes."</p><p>"Three <em>years </em>ago?" Aang repeats, not sure he heard correctly. </p><p>"Yes," Zuko replies again, sounding impatient (well, he always sounds impatient, so that doesn't say much). "I didn't really pay a lot of attention at the time, since we already had supplies, but Uncle pointed it out. He knows a lot about plants. Well, most of the time." He grimaces, and it looks like there's a story behind that statement. Aang's about to ask for it, when —</p><p>"Hang on. Three years ago you would have been thirteen," Toph interjects. "You were already hunting the Avatar at <em>thirteen?"</em></p><p>"Yeah," Zuko mutters. "I was." He stands up. "I'm going to bed. Aang, get some sleep. We start training at sunrise."</p><p>He walks off to his room, leaving the group in a confused silence, which none of them are quite sure what it means.</p><p>"Well, I'm off to pick my toes. Goodnight!" Toph stands up, walking toward Zuko's room rather than her usual toe-picking seat. Aang wonders what that's about — <em>doesn't Toph do that before dinner, anyway? — </em>and Katara looks peeved about something. Sokka gives Aang the '<em>just -go-with-it'</em> look. </p><p><em>I hope Toph doesn't murder my firebending teacher, </em>Aang thinks. </p><p>[¥]</p><p>Zuko's late, which is weird since <em>he's </em>the one who set the schedule. When he finally shows up, he looks like he's had to wrestle a badgermole off of him. He doesn't say anything, though, and instead sits down across from Aang. </p><p> "We'll start with breathing again. You ran out of breath really quick yesterday. With proper control, you should be able to go for a long time without tiring yourself out too much, or running out of breath."</p><p>Aang groans, but follows along with Zuko's instructions, summoning a small flame and closing his eyes. </p><p><em>In. Hold. 1,2,3. Out. Hold. 1,2,3. </em>It reminds him of counting steps to a dance. In the spaces between breaths, he can feel his heartbeat — quiet and slow, but strong. He can feel the flame in his hand pulsing, echoing the rhythm. He feels his shoulders relax, his mind focused only on counting the seconds between each breath, and keeping the flame alive. </p><p>Then there's a screech right by his ear, and a startled yell across from him. The flame goes out and his concentration is broken. He looks up quickly, worried; and finds Zuko, concentration broken as well and looking grumpier than usual. Curled around his neck is Momo, looking like the epitome of bliss. </p><p>"Could you get this off of me?" Zuko tugs on Momo's tail; this seems to make the lemur hang on even tighter, if anything. </p><p>"I think he likes you," Aang says with a smile. </p><p>Zuko looks even more grumpy (if that's even possible), and glares at the lemur now batting at his hair. </p><p>"Well, how am I supposed to meditate with him hanging onto me like this?" </p><p>Aang tilts his head, thinking. "Well, we could take a break from firebending for today?" </p><p>Zuko frowns. "We don't have time to —"</p><p>But Aang's already standing. "Come on! You can show me where those tomato-carrots were!"</p><p>Zuko gives a sigh, and Aang hears him mutter some definitely-<em>not</em>-child-friendly words under his breath, before standing up, Momo still clinging to his neck. "Fine. Let's go."</p><p>[¥]</p><p>Zuko and Sokka leave that night. Their note says they're on a hunting trip. </p><p>They come back days later with a Fire Nation airship, Suki, and Sokka and Katara's dad. </p><p>Not very long after, Azula shows up and, regrettably, they have to leave. They find a nice beach, though, where they're able to set up camp. </p><p>Well, it's nice <em>until </em>Katara has an angry outburst at Zuko. </p><p>Aang gets it. Really, he does. Katara doesn't trust Zuko because her life was uprooted by the nation he represents (or represented). </p><p>But Zuko's saved their butts so many times now, and he's <em>helped bring her dad back, </em>and she could at least show a <em>little </em>appreciation for that. Of course, her separation from her dad so soon after she got him back is probably a sore point. </p><p>It still grinds at Aang's nerves for anyone in the group to be fighting. </p><p>When Katara approaches him the next day, followed closely by Zuko, and tells him she needs Appa to go on a revenge trip to find the man who killed her mother — </p><p>It really throws him for a loop. It's not <em>like</em> Katara. He tries to talk her out of it. </p><p>It doesn't work. Aang isn't surprised when she and Zuko try to take Appa in the middle of the night. </p><p>He lets them go, with the hopes Katara will make the choice to forgive. </p><p>[¥]</p><p> They're all sat around Zuko's bed in the infirmary, only days after Sozin's Comet passes over.</p><p>Sokka and Toph are both cuddling ridiculously close to the firebender, and Suki's curled up on Sokka's lap. Katara's head rests on Aang's shoulder, which she actually has to lean down to do (he points out that she's definitely going to have a crick in her neck, but she ignores that, which he resents for a second).</p><p>An interesting detail is that Zuko's <em>girlfriend</em> (which apparently he has one of?) is actually laying across his lap, tossing knives at the ceiling, which is definitely not safe, but Zuko's smiling so nobody really bothers to interrupt his evidently-very-proficient-with-knives girlfriend. </p><p>Even Momo (who Sokka's smuggled in despite the infirmary's 'no animals' rule) is enjoying himself, sitting on Uncle Iroh's head and stealing spiced raisins from the bowl on Zuko's bedside table. </p><p>Aang leans back (almost falling off the bed because <em>whoops, </em>there's no railing there, why did he forget that —) and after that relaxation method fails he leans forward on his elbows, looking around at the little group. </p><p><em>We've all come so <strong>f</strong></em><strong><em>ar</em></strong>, he thinks, hearing Sokka retell how Suki and Toph helped in driving down the airship fleet, and watching Zuko smile at Sokka's <em>'water you doing here' </em>joke, and Katara and Uncle Iroh chatting while racing drops of water down the side of a glass (Katara <em>swears</em> she's not cheating)...and he smiles. </p><p>Because for right now they don't have to be the <em>Avatar, </em>or <em>Prince, </em>or <em>Warrior, </em>or<em> Dragon of the West</em>. Right now they're just a bunch of kids and a kind, tea-loving Uncle, sharing a moment of their lives. </p><p>They're <em>them, </em>and it feels <em>great. </em></p><p>Just one big, happy family. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks to everyone who's still reading this series! If you want, comment suggestions for other characters' POV, now that I've got the main Gaang done!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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